We have been hearing many
“narratives” of Sikkim Earthquake since its occurrence on September 18th.
The spectators, or we may say the narrators, whosoever they may be, exaggerate
the events in such a way that the real things remain behind curtail because of
their overstatement. I also have heard similar exaggerated narratives from some
people after the earthquake. Few people of my village Assam Lingzey told me
that it is “impossible” to reach some places like Sakyong, Thulung and Bey in
North Sikkim due to the massive landslides. They were very much correct in
their sayings and possibly they were averting me from going there in the midst
of Dasain. It was a challenging task for all of
us to reach there. But, as we reach there the “narratives” were different. In fact,
we had a face to face contact with the vinegary realities of earthquake in Bey.

A cloth pack left by the villagers at Bey

We were already aware
from the fact that the village called Bey in north Sikkim has been abandoned by
the villagers and they were now living at a Relief Camp at Char Mile. Even though,
we decided to go there to see the enormity of the huge shake which has thrilled
the entire state of Sikkim. In the evening of 7th October, a native
of Lingzya had come to our camp at the Panchayat Bhavan of the village. He told
us about the death of a 16 years old girl at Bey due to the landslide after the
earthquake. She was Lakit Lepcha, a student of Class VII of Lingzya Jr. High
School. She was a smiling and a beautiful child and was staying at Lingzya
with her friends. On 18th September which will be remembered as a “Black
Day” by every Sikkimese in the coming days, she asked her friends to visit her house
at Bey to have Momo (a traditional Tibetan dish mostly popular in the entire
Himalayan region). Her friends refused to go with her and they stay back at
Lingzya. After their refusal she took a small boy from Lingzya to her house at
Bey. Her brother, a saw puller (I have forgotten his Name) who was working at
lower Dzongu, had also come to his house. When the earthquake occurred, the brother-sister
duo was preparing Momo for the evening. After a few seconds of the earthquake
the mountain above their village fall down with a huge spark (possibly occurred
due to rubbing of the rocks) and swept the house of Lakit leading her to bury inside
the debris of her house. Her smiles, her happiness, her containment and
cheerfulness were also buried along with her in the wreckage of her house. The small boy, who accompanied Lakit on her
way to Bey, fortunately was at another house where a Puja was going on. The second
house remains untouched and many other villagers of Bey survived.

Relief Team of Namchi Govt. College on the way to Bey

After hearing this
account about Lakit, I decided to meet the surviving members of her family. They
had come to Bey to lift Dhaja in the name of those who lost
their lives in the catastrophe of September 18th. Her surviving family
members (I did not have the courage to ask their relation with Lakit) cried in
front of us while telling about her. The family has lost almost all of its
members. Five people including Lakit lost their lives at Bey. Three bodies had
been recovered, but they could not find the bodies of another two people.

After hearing about the
untimed and a most unfortunate demise of Lakit, every person in our team got
tearful. The account about the smiling daughter of Bey is not an overstatement
as we have been hearing; it is undeniably a heartbreaking fact of the September
18th. I wanted to acquire more information about her from Lingzya. After our arrival from Bey, I met a student of
Lingzya Jr. High School and asked her about Lakit. She told me that Lakit was
her senior and was a pleasant and a kindly girl. On 8th of October,
we left Lingzya and proceeded towards Singtam for Namchi. Everybody in our team
was silently praying for the soul of the Smiling Daughter of Bey to rest in
peace.

The earthquake of 18th
September 2011 has given a rigorous and an unforgettable pain to every Sikkimese.
It was a huge shake which not only devastated “Abode of God” but, also defaced
the natural beauty of the tiny Himalayan State of the Indian Union. A diminutive
amount was collected by the teachers and students of Namchi Govt. College to provide
relief materials among the earthquake victims’ in North Sikkim. The main objective
of the team was to meet the earthquake sufferers and to make them feel that “we
are also not distant” as well as to share commiseration. Before leaving there,
the team members have gathered information about the existing situation of the
affected areas and reached to a conclusion to visit Bey, a far flung village in
North Sikkim.

On 7th of October
after receiving Tika from our elders on the propitious festival of Dasain,
we began to proceed towards Mangan, the district headquarters of North Sikkim. After
some formalities we moved towards Lingzya, the last vehicle accessible village of
that part (though Bey is also connected by road but due to heavy landslides after
the earthquake it is totally cut-off from the mainland). It was almost 6:30 in
the evening therefore we decided to stay at the Panchayat Bhavan which
was turned as a relief camp after the earthquake. We met the Panchayat
of Lingzya who made necessary arrangements for us to stay in the village. The Panchayat
informed us about the fatalities met by his village and his village men. We tried
to meet the people in the relief camp but, Mr. Bhutia the Panchayat told us that most
of the earthquake victims have started to return to their own houses. It is a beautiful
village mostly inhabited by the Lepchas very few Bhutias and the Nepalese who
are mostly agriculture laborers from Nepal.

Namchi Govt. College team at 10th Mile Landslide

On 8th of
October, before we left for Bey, few villagers told us about two shocks occurred
in the morning. They further told us that the shocks now have become usual elements
in their lives. Yaha ta sano sano bhuichalo aai bascha….aba ta hamilai daar lagnu chodeko
cha (here small shocks occur usually…now we do not get scare). There
were more or less 80 bags which were to be distributed to the victims of Bey. We
decided to carry few bags as we were told that almost all the families of Bey were
rehabilitated at 4th Mile. After having tea, we began to move
towards Bey, one of the worse hit areas of Sikkim. We were carrying relief
materials that included dry edibles and materials of daily use like candle,
soap, cooking oil, toothpaste, toothbrush etc. Due to heavy landslide after the
earthquake, the road connecting Bey with the mainland is now totally devastated.
It is now all covered by silt, rocks and clay. We reached 10th Mile
where we could witness the real destruction of the earthquake. The entire road
(approx. 400 mts) is washed away by the avalanche and it is now covered by huge
rocks and sludge. More or less, all of the mountains in that part of North
Sikkim had attrition and abrasion.

After crossing nearly fourteen
landslides and the perilous way (where we had to cross the gaps by walking on undersized
logs and sometimes by holding ropes tighten there by the mountaineering team)
our team reaches Bey at 8:30 A.M. There were very few villagers who had come
there to lift Dhaja in the name of the deceased from 4th Mile
relief camp. We distributed the relief materials to the villagers and shared
our grief to the surviving members of the deceased.

This Landslide has shattered the village of Bey

The villagers notify us
that the village used to have 16 houses of which 4 were sweep away by the
landslide. It has to be mentioned here that this village is situated below a
mountain which was fall down after the earthquake leading to the death of five
people of a lone family. The misfortune of those people who lost their lives is
excruciating. After the wobble, the villagers were rescued by the teams led by
the locals and NDRF personals. Apart from the human lives, the village has lost
almost every means of its survival. It has lost its agricultural lands, livestock,
houses, orchards, cardamom lands and so on. According to a woman she has lost
all of her livestock in the catastrophe. She had twenty cows, few pigs and
goats which were brush off by the landslide. We have also observed homely
materials like frying pan, and small packs of cloth scattered around the
village which were thrown by the villagers in distress. The domestic animals,
which had overcome the fatality, were grazing in the plains of the derelict
village.

The picture of present
Bey is a heartbreaking one. Within a fraction of second the beautiful village
of Bey was converted into a land of misery. The Lepchas of Bey and their virtuousness,
their openhandedness and their simplicity on the one side and the loss of their
near and dear ones along with their property on the other has greatly shaken my
idea of the existence of a “Supernatural Power” which we generally term as GOD.

The team of Namchi
Government College was lead by Mr. Rajen Upadhyay, Assistant Professor Department
of History and was convoy by Mr. Dweep Subba (V Semester) Mr. Jeet Bardewa (V
Semester) Mr. Tilak Bardewa (Pass out Student), Mr. Hari Chandra Sharma (V
Semester), Mr. Phurba Lepcha (III Semester), Mr. Santosh Rai (III Semester) and
Mr. Simon Rai (Driver). Being a team Leader I would like to thank Mr. Simon Rai
who has carried the entire relief materials on his shoulders on the adverse way
towards Bey.